real faints of God, for he that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 1 John v. 18. The blood of Christ cleanseth them from ail fin, and be that is born of God finneth not, 1 John iii. 9. "Whereas (faith Satan) you are full of fin and hardness of heart, full of rebellion and unbelief, and of all manner of concupifcence. No, no; do not deceive yourself (faith he); the faints of God are purged, and therefore clean; they are washed, and they are whiter than fnow: whereas you are as black as the tents of Kedar, and are filled with secret rage and envy at thofe that do really love and fear God; and this is an infallible mark of an hypocrite-For they that hate Zion shall be defolate. This (lays Satan) was the cafe and state of Saul, king of Ifrael; he hated David because the Lord was with him. And this upon him was an evident token of perdition; for he that hateth his brother is as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and flew his brother: yea, be that bateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer bath eternal life abiding in

bim.

"Befides, you really hate them because they are happy, and because you fee and know that the Lord is with them; this is hating the Holy Comforter alfo; and, if this be not doing defpite to the Spirit of grace, what is? Moreover, real believers are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto falvation; but where is your keeping? Have I not access to you when I please? Are you not at

this

this time in my hands? You have often, and (as you thought) with the deepest felf-abhorrence, confeffed your own vilenefs, and told God that had he destroyed you he would have been ftrictly righteous, for you have been an awful finner against him. God only foftened your heart, and gave you a little joy, like that of the way-fide hearers, on purpose to draw thofe confeffions out of your mouth, that he may take advantage of it, and condemn you out of your own mouth, as a wicked fervant. And not only this, but you have called God himself your Father, as the Jews of old did, when the devil himself was their father; and you have called Jesus Chrift your dear Lord and Mafter, when you know at this very time that I have full power over you. Never, no never, was there fuch a headstrong, daring, prefumptuous, God-difhonouring wretch as you. You a faint! You look like one; don't you? No, no; do not deceive yourself, all your joys and hopes, and all your comfort, that you ran from houfe to houfe and chattered about, it all came from me. I can transform myself into the likenefs of an angel of light; I can counterfeit all the joys and comforts of the Holy Spirit on purpose to deceive. The whole work in you was all my own, and I did it on purpose to entrap you. Back to my work you must come, for you are still my captive, and I will make you fetch up all your loft time; and this the fcripture declares when it fays, and the last fate of that man is worse than the first.

Deceiving

Go, go,

Deceiving and being deceived. I have deceived you, and you have deceived others. You have been to your minifter and told him a thousand lies, and have deceived him; for he thinks it is a work of grace. And you have been to old Honesty and told him your experience; you have been to Dame Simplicity and filled her head; and to Mifs Lovetruth, and he thinks you are a wonder. and undeceive them all; tell them what you really are; that you always was a forward, daring, bold, arrogant rebel; and that you have added this, your deceitful and hypocritical profeffion, to all the reft of your innumerable and complicated crimes, Never, never more open your mouth, nor drop one word to any foul living about religion-yea, if your heart be hot within you keep silence, even from good words; for you will be a reproach, a public fcandal, a by-word, and an offence; and wo be to that man through whom the offence cometh. You will ftumble these poor weaklings that you have tried to encourage, by telling them your experience; these will faint and give all up: and you know what Chrift fays to them who offend one of these little ones that believe in him-Good had it been that thou hadft never been born: yea, better that a millstone were banged about thy neck, and that thou wert drowned in the depths of the fea, than that thou shouldeft offend one of thefe little ones.

"No foul that ever appeared upon the stage of time, no character that is drawn in the annals of

God,

God, ever appeared fo defperate as yours. Cain was banished from his father's houfe; Efau's cries and tears, and his hatred to Jacob, fprung chiefly for a bleffing in temporal things; and Saul's hatred to David was mostly because he viewed him as the rival of his family in a temporal kingdom: but your crimes are worse than theirs, put them all together. For you hate the people of God because the love of God is fhed abroad in their hearts, and the comforts of the Holy Spirit is in their fouls; and to be jealous, envious, and hateful, not only to the children of God, but even to the comforts of the Holy Spirit, is an evident token of perdition. Go, tell them all what you really are, and undeceive them; and tell them never to lift up either cry or prayer for you-There is a fin unto death; I do not fay be fhall pray for it. Tell them that all your faith was nothing but prefumption, and that all your claims upon God were unwarrantable and daring intrufions-And the foul that doeth aught prefumptuoufly, that foul fhall be destroyed from among his people. You will now be held up to contempt, and be made a public example to deter others; yea, a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And, as for me, I will harafs, worry, and drive you, as I did the mad Gadarene into the wilderness. I never fweat nor tire. I will purfue you with unremitted violence, till I drive you mad and defperate.

"Law finners, that know nothing of the will of God in the gofpel, will be beaten with few stripes;

the heathen, who are a law to themselves, will be beaten with fewer ftill. But you are an impoftor, a hypocrite in Zion, and a sinner against the Holy Ghost; the hottest place in hell is your portion, and I will punish you (for I am the tormentor) worse than all the flaves I have, unless you will fall down and worship me. It is in vain to cry to God, for there is no God; nor is it of any ufe to plead the promifes, for the Bible is not true, I dictated it; it was compiled by cunning and defigning men which I employed on purpose to deceive the fimple. Hence many noblemen, and fome of the most learned in all the nation, burlesque it and ridicule it as a mere fable and as an idle tale."

Thus with violence doth the devil break in upon the young believer and harass him, when it pleases God to leave him for the trial of his faith, and that he may know what is in his heart; and thus he used to serve me. Well may the prophet fay, The enemy comes in like a flood; for all feems to be fwept and carried away before him. Nothing appears to be left but the bare remembrance of things past, and sometimes hardly that. But, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord fhall lift up a standard against him. This ftandard is Chrift Jefus. Bebold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and fet up my standard to the people. Ifa. xlix. 22. This ftandard is intended to gather together God's elect to Chrift, as will appear in the following paffage.-Go through, go through the gates; prepare you the way of

the